Radio and Speakers questions

I guess I can understand the reasoning behind connecting a single 1.5 volt battery (AA,AAA, etc) across the speaker leads- It's to see if the speaker cone will move in or out (energizing the coil makes the voicecoil move in or out). But, 1) Not for longer than a second or two, and 2) Nothing more powerful, as the voicecoil windings are small (wire gauge).

But your surround/cone is shot anyway, so as long as you didn't leave that 4.5 VDC hooked-up too long, you may be ok.